A quick guide to identifying some hedgerow fruit

I’ve had quite a few emails recently about identifying hedgerow fruit so I thought that it might be helpful to post some of the pictures that I have. Sloes, wild damsons, wild cherry plums and bullaces all came from the same family – albeit distant relations. They all have stones and the bushes have similar leaves.

Photo: Sloe on a branch

The main problem seems to be differentiating sloes and wild damsons as they are both small and dark. Sloe bushes have sharp thorns and wild damson trees do not. Damsons have longer stems so hang and look more like a tiny plum. Sloes have shorter stems and hug the branches more.

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I have wild fruit in the garden but not sure what it is, they look like plums but have thorns on branches. It is self planted tall hedgerow type of bush. The fruit is slightly smaller than. Plum. Any idea what they are, safe to eat or cook with???

Hi Lorraine, Could you upload a photo please. They sound like wild plums or bullaces to me. They could also be wild damsons – which are about the size of a sloe and very sharp tasting. If you can t upload a photo could you tell me what colour they are?

I am making some festive brew for Christmas. Decided to forage the abundance of wild berries this year. Found Sloes, bullaces,blackberries and have made a mixture with Hortus Gin. I have added varying quantities of sugar and also added a teaspoon full of muscovado sugar with the castor sugar as an experiment. I shake once a week now and the fruits of my labour seem to be looking good. Fingers crossed for a merry festive holiday.

Pick your sloes wash them in some sort of baby’s bottle sterilising fluid in a bowl of water. Swirl around for about 5 to 10 minutes and pick out any leaves or other bits of wood (sometimes you may see a very few grubs)
Drain through a plastic sieve and rinse well under cold running water.
Dry off as much water as possible by rolling the rinsed sloes in a clean drying up cloth.
Get a bowl in which to place the sloes.
Either take a clean needle or for authenticity us a big thorn from the sloe bush and prick each sloe several times in different places on the skin.
Place into your clean bowl until all sloes have had their skins punctured.
Buy the cheapest bottle of gin you can find . If in the UK try Lidl for your gin.
Sterilise another bottle- clear glass will allow you to see the beauty of the purple colour as the sloesgive up their skin colour.
Pop about 1/3rd of the clean empty bottle with your sloes.
Now pour in a second 1/3rd of ordinary granulated sugar.
Fill the bottle with your fresh gin and put the cork/top of the bottle, making sure it is well sealed.
Place your bottle somewhere that allows you to frequently shake up the bottle to dissolve the sugar into the gin.
Many contemporary gin producers are selling flavoured gin. I also add some juniper berries (obtainable from most supermarkets) lately I have also been adding half a handful of crushed lavender blossoms and maybe 6 whole cloves, some cinnamon stick, and a few thin slices of ginger.
Try your sloe gin after at least 3 months soaking without my added flavourings as you can then add the additional flavours to any other bottles you manage to make.
Pour your first sloe gin about Xmas time and recall with closed eyes the warmth of the early Autumn sun on your back as yo were picking those spit curdling berries that are now wonderfully fragrant to eat separately with dark chocolate.
Have a wonderful time making your 2017 sloe gin.

Bite into the smallish berry that you think is a sloe and the sloe will tell you it is a sloe from the way it curdles your spit. Once you have done this you will know what I mean.
By the way, sloes have some pretty formidable thorns to help identify it.

I have made sloe gin before but I have three damson trees in my garden so I have decided to do damson sloe gin ..I have picked them and frozen them then crushed them ..I bottled them lots of sugar and plenty of gin I will turn them for 14 days then store them for 6 months and by then I should have a very strong drink .. I will let you know what it is like in 6 months..

a friend has given me some berries to mix with gin.they are bigger than sloes with a stone..i was alittle apprehensive but he assures me that he has used them last year and they make as good a drink as sloe gin..someone the berry is called balese or something similar..any ideas what they may be…

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